Simeon Sees the Messiah

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation. — Luke 2:27-30a

Simeon praised God when he saw the baby Jesus in the temple.

He had been waiting for this day.

And He knew that this was no ordinary baby, but the Son of God.

Simeon recognized that Jesus was the Messiah as he took him in his arms.

And that God had sent Him to earth just as he had promised long ago.

Simeon was now ready to be with God in death.

He had now seen God's salvation and was thankful.

He was now at peace.

Those of us who k now Jesus are also at peace, no matter what comes our way.

Festival of the Passover

Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. — Luke 2:41-42

Each year Jesus and His family celebrated Passover.

Their tradition was to go to Jerusalem annually for the celebration.

When Jesus was twelve, they went up to Jerusalem, just as they had done for years.

Our family has traditions, too.

We worship together weekly.

And on Christmas Eve, we have potato soup.

Usually we go to the Christmas eve worship service together and have soup afterward.

Kirk's mom, Rita, started the tradition.

His Dad, Gary, continued it after she died.

And we continued it again this year with a smaller group of people, due to covid.

After the soup, we watched the service together on LiveStream.

A fitting way to bring in the Christmas season.